Fact: I can't start a story in earnest until I've both mapped out the emotional landscape of the story—and believe me, this doesn't even mean particulars as such, it just means that I have this amorphous actual shape or imprint in my head and under my skin that tells me what the story will feel like as a whole, how it will settle in that space in my chest, okay, dammit, I'm a freak—and, oddly enough, have a title.

I totally get that, because it's all the emotional load and passion on top of being inside the characters' heads. Having the moment and the words for it together is something that happens literally moment by moment for me. It's a gigantic balancing act.